Hey everyone and welcome to Phil Priday! I'm on the island of St. Martin
this is my fifth time visiting this island but this trips pretty special
because it's the first time I've been here since Hurricane Irma so I came to
the island to see how it was doing and find out exactly where they were at now
I was a little nervous coming here. I wasn't sure what to expect. The news was
saying one thing I was reading forums that were saying another so I had to
come down here and see it for myself let's start with the landing process
Princess Juliana International Airport took a hit so I had heard about there were
temporary tents up.That wasn't really the case when I arrived so when you do
land you are going to exit the plane from both ways and you're going to exit
directly onto the tarmac it's kind of a fun experience because you come right
out of the plane and you instantly feel the heat of the Caribbean and I actually
enjoy when I do that in islands of the Tropic. When you get off
you're gonna get on to some shuttles which take you the length of the airport
to what we're not in tents but temporary buildings. The check-in process for
customs was really fast they had a lot of agents so you went through and them
instantly where you collect your baggage. They no longer have the baggage
carousels that you're used to and instead your luggage is done manually
and it's quick and you're instantly on the island so overall the airport
experience was actually quite pleasant. After I landed I went to Thrifty Car
Rental where they provided me with a great car they had a lot of selections
and it really wasn't any different than the last time I was here. Now driving
from the airport to where I'm staying was where I had a feeling I was gonna
start seeing some things that we're gonna be hard to see I thought of this
island as kind of a second home and seeing it for the first time I was
pretty nervous. There is destruction with such a big hurricane there's going to be
destruction but with the destruction there's also rebuilding. One area they
got her pretty hard is Maho there aren't many things open there right now however
they are fixing it and there was construction happening while I drove
through it so that was really nice to see. So for the first part of this trip I
was staying in a condo in Porto Cupecoy. This is one area that really
survived and didn't have a whole lot of damage so pulling into it it really felt
the same. Now they have a grocery store here they have restaurants that are open
the pool looks really nice it's right across the street from Cupecoy Beach
it's a wonderful place to stay I had stayed here in the past and coming back
pretty much everything was intact. When it really hit me that there was a lot of
destruction was when I drove to Marigot from Porto Cupecoy. In between Marigot
and Porto Cupecoy is an area called Sandy Ground. It's where a lot of locals
live and was a spot that got hit really hard. The buildings here need a lot of
work one thing I did notice right away was the color of the ocean and the
beaches the beaches are super clean right now they have white sand and the
ocean is crystal clear so the beaches are definitely a place to go. A fan
favorite here is Mullet Beach and I went there on a Sunday and there were
numerous people on the beach you could rent chairs and umbrellas you can get
ribs and chicken which is so delicious you could buy drinks on the beach so it
was nice to see that mullet Beach was doing well. I also got a chance to travel
out to Pinel Island. The two restaurants there had been closed but when I arrived
they were open and they were lively and they looked great beaches were fantastic
the bars were full of people there were boats pulling in that had parties and
Pinel Beach if you get a chance to go there was really nice. You can take a $12
round-trip ferry it's just the little boat that you take over to it it's like
a five minute ride up to Pinel Island. I highly recommend you do it goes out of
the cul-de-sac which is over by Orient Bay. Speaking of Orient Bay
this is an area that got hit hard. the bars and the restaurants and stores
that were on the beach are no longer there the beach though however is
ginormous now without the restaurants and bars on them it's one of the biggest
beaches I've seen they still have some cleaning up to do there they've got to
get rid of some of the seaweed there but I think their main focus right now is
getting some of these other places back open so it's a beautiful beach to see
but maybe not somewhere you want to go if you're looking for like a full like
beach day but definitely go see it because it's fantastic and massive the
nice thing is though at the restaurants right behind the beach are open. I tried
a new place called Sao. It's a Thai place it was fantastic and all the bars and
the restaurants right next to it were also open so Orient Beach is definitely
a place you can go and you can have a really nice afternoon and then enjoy a
really nice dinner. I also went and explored Baie Long Beach which is in
Terres Basses. It's a private resident area where it's gated
but the beaches are public so when you pull to the gate as long as you're going
to one of the beaches it's not a big deal and you can go right on in and park
outside the beaches and enjoy them Baie Long Beach right now is the place to go
if you're looking for complete privacy or you really like long walks on a beach
this is a place where you can do that I was lucky enough to be there around five
six o'clock and the Sun was starting to kind of go down and it was just
absolutely stunning. As far as the restaurants go there's a lot of
restaurants opened I mentioned orient Beach has a bunch open Simpson Bay has a
lot of places open for those of you who like red piano that is open and ready to
go so I didn't notice a lot of differences in Simpson Bay and there's
definitely enough places that if you come down here you'll have plenty of to
do, One area that's really hurting right now is grande case and it's unfortunate
because it was the food capital of the Caribbean there is so many different
styles of food and restaurants and many of them were right on the beach
so they didn't fare well in the storm and they've been unable to rebuild them
yet there is one location that's great which is called a Rainbow and they are
open there's also a few restaurants that as long as they weren't directly on the
beach they are open but be aware that this area did take a beating and is
in the works and needs to rebuild but they're not quite there yet but
hopefully soon and it's not a reason to not come here just because Grand Case
there's plenty more to do on this island but it me personally it was sad to see
grand Case away it was because it's really a special place but they do have
a few bars open and there has been a few activities there so you know they're
doing their best to at least make it a place that you can go and you can still
enjoy it but just know that there's a lot of construction going on and there's
a lot of restaurants that are down and it's it's sad it's sad to see such a
wonderful place have to start over and rebuild but while it might not be your
top place to go when you come here I definitely recommend at least walking
through it so you can get an idea of just how devastating this hurricane was
so I've been here for one week done plenty I've really enjoyed being back on
this island and I'll continue to research and see what else is here and
continue to let you know what I'm up to So that's it for Phil Phriday for my
first update here on st. Maarten I should have more coming to you I am here
for another two weeks and we'll continue to explore this island
see everything else in how it's done but when it comes down to it come to this
island and come support it now it's when it needs it most this island relies on
tourism and it's a wonderful place to count there's plenty to do there's
casinos there's restaurants there's beautiful beaches you will have an
absolute blast so remember to subscribe and you will see my future updates fill